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Commission: He’s not our Mandy

The EU says Peter Mandelson is not officially advising it on Brexit.

The European Commission has rejected British media reports that one of its highest-profile former members, power lobbyist Peter Mandelson, is officially advising the EU on how to prevent Brexit, a U.K. exit from the bloc.

Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein told POLITICO that Mandelson had “no formal role advising the Commission” on Britain’s referendum on whether to leave or remain in the European Union, slated for next year.

Winterstein said that Mandelson’s high-level meetings with the Commission — in December 2014 and June 2015 — were merely a chance for the former minister in Tony Blair’s government to express his “personal views and insights” which “remain relevant and interesting for the European Commission.”

Letters published by British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph revealed that Mandelson, a British peer who was the EU trade commissioner from 2004 to 2008, had been providing the EU’s executive with advice on the Brexit issue — something the Commission had until now refused to confirm.

The correspondence obtained by the newspaper under freedom of information laws suggests that Mandelson, a lobbyist who is a director of Russian conglomerate Sistema, had been tasked with providing the Commission guidance on Brexit, although it is unclear whether this was a formal arrangement.

Writing last November, Mandelson confirmed with Martin Selmayr, the cabinet chief of Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, that the EU executive body “would welcome input from me as you develop the Commission’s communications capabilities, particularly (but not only) with the U.K. audience in mind.”

Mandelson added that he would “be very happy to follow up on this, both personally and as the Joint President of the British Influence, the newly formed campaign organization to keep Britain in the EU.”

The Commission had told POLITICO in June that the contact between Mandelson and Selmayr was not related to Brexit.

“Mr. Selmayr organized an informal dinner with some cabinet members to exchange on [Mandelson’s] past experience as a Commissioner,” a Commission spokesperson said in response to POLITICO’s earlier inquiries about the meeting on June 16.

The second letter published by The Telegraph is from Selmayr to Mandelson, and is dated June 17, 2015 — the day after the dinner held at the Commission’s Berlaymont building in which the former Labour politician addressed top Commission officials.

“Thank you […] for your availability to support our efforts in dealing with the challenges ahead,” Selmayr wrote. “I am convinced only good things will come from our joint efforts.”

“Margaritis [Schinas, the European Commission’s chief spokesman] will stay in touch with you on the next steps,” Selmayr wrote, without specifying what the next steps would be.

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The dinner, which POLITICO reported at the time, involved European Political Strategy Center chief Ann Mettler, current U.K. Commissioner Jonathan Hill and key cabinet members. The topic of the discussion was listed under transparency rules simply as “working dinner with Lord Mandelson.”

Mandelson’s consultancy, Global Counsel (GC), lists its EU clients as including insurance firms and banks, manufacturers and energy companies.

However, GC said in a statement to POLITICO in July that Mandelson’s meetings were “not used for commercial advocacy” and that he had been in Brussels “to discuss policy issues ranging from the current debate on Brexit through to global trade.”

In a new statement on Monday, GC said that Mandelson’s discussions with the Commission on Brexit were not part of a commercial arrangement of any kind.

“GC does not work for the EC and would not seek to,” the firm said.

The letters have placed Global Counsel’s meetings with high-ranking EU officials in the spotlight, particularly given that the Commission appears to have used vague terms to describe the purpose of the meetings.

Under the Commission’s transparency regime, which entered into effect on December 1, 2014, all meetings with cabinet members and top officials must be disclosed, with a listing of the topic of the encounter.

However, Mandelson’s meetings in Brussels in December 2014 were listed simply as “future changes for Europe” and “communication challenges.”

Mandelson was one of the key architects of Blair’s tenure as British prime minister. He served as the U.K.’s member of the Commission from 2004 to 2008, handling the important trade dossier.

After serving in the British cabinet as secretary of state for business, innovation and skills from 2008 to 2010, Mandelson went on to found Global Counsel.